Winnipeg airport partners with new app to help people with visual impairments

For people who are blind or vision-impaired, traversing Winnipeg’s international airport just got a little easier.

Aira is a US-based tech startup app which turns a person’s smartphone camera into a pair of eyes.

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“Bringing this new technology to the airport increases accessibility and reduces barriers for all our travelers, especially those who sometimes experience travel in ways we do not,” says Barry Rempel, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

At the touch of a button, the app connects with an agent who, using the camera, can help a person maneuver through their environment.

“Aira is on a mission to put the power of accessibility into the hands of somebody who’s blind using a smartphone app,” says Paul Schroeder, vice president of public policy and strategic initiatives with Aira.

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“To find out the information they need, to get the directions they might be lacking, to identify which gate they’re near, to go shop and spend some money here in Canada, or perhaps to find a restroom.”

0:28 Aira app demonstration

However, Schroeder adds it goes beyond just telling a person what’s in front of them.

“As I was here yesterday with one of our agents on my smartphone, I learned there are Christmas trees being put up and Christmas decorations,” says Schroeder.

“It’s something I wouldn’t have known otherwise probably, and it was just a nice thing to be aware of.”

Leonard Furber, executive director of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Manitoba, says such an app will really change the way people with low or no vision travel.

“I can tell you it can be challenging,” Furber says.

“Any time you add a tool that’s going to enhance my ability to do so confidentially, it goes a long way, not only in my desire to travel, but my actual ability to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B.'”

Schroeder says normally a user would subscribe to a certain amount of minutes, however the app is free to use at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport.

Winnipeg’s is the second airport in the country to make the service available.

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